


show me how

by getcool (avatarstates)



Series: Haikyuu!! Liberoweek 2018 [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Aobajousai, Enemies to Friends, Gen, High School, Karasuno
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-07 22:04:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16416830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avatarstates/pseuds/getcool
Summary: "You literally jump and set!""Please, I only have one brain cell. I gotta have a hands-on for that."where Nishinoya Yuu humbles himself to seek out a rival's help.





	show me how

Nishinoya forms a triangle with his thumb and index fingers, and tries to picture himself setting as he walks down the street. His fingers are slightly sore from the drills he's done last night against the wall before his mother barged into his room and told him off for making so much noise. It's not that he wants to piss everyone in the household off but he can't take his mind off the match with Seijoh a few days ago.

Karasuno's defeat was simply a reminder of how much they needed to work on and Nishinoya is certain he has plenty to improve. Sure, he's trained with volleyball moms on how to retrieve blocked balls that he can practically do it with his eyes closed but because of how badly he wanted to ensure that he'll never miss a chance to save a ball, he's forgotten about other things a libero could do.

Seijoh's libero reminded him of that. The jump set was incredible, but also infuriating. It just happened out of the blue that Nishinoya was shocked at witnessing it happen in front of him. He remembered spending a fraction of a second being amazed before he snapped himself back to reality.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Nishinoya sighs to himself the moment he finds himself standing before the gates of Aoba Johsai Private High School. According to Kageyama, the school's volleyball club is having practice today so Nishinoya's hoping he'd be able to catch their libero at some point.

He peers distastefully at the grand edifice of the main building, scrutinizing every detail of it right from the color of the paint to the size of the windows. He's been here before twice. Once for Karasuno's practice match and when he was in Chidoriyama. The latter was when he looking for high schools to attend before noticing how astronomically expensive the tuition fees were; it goes without saying that it was crossed out of his choices. No wonder the people who attended here, especially Grand King Oikawa, was such a snob.

"Hey, it's you from Karasuno!" Nishinoya stops scowling at the building to find just the person he was looking for standing a few feet away.

Watari Shinji. Aoba Johsai's libero. Second-year.

Though he sports a buzz cut like Tanaka does, he lacks the intimidating factor Nishinoya's friend exudes due to the fact that he's always smiling for some reason. His friendly gray eyes regard Nishinoya before he approaches Karasuno's libero. Watari's in his volleyball uniform however he isn't sweating so that means practice hasn't started yet. "What are you doing here?" he inquires curiously.

Dammit, it's hard not to hate him when he's so friendly, Nishinoya thinks to himself with slight irritation. He clears his throat and replies, "I'm here for you."

Watari stares at him. He blinks slowly, eyebrows twitching into an almost-frown. "Oh, thanks."

"No, not that way." Nishinoya sighs. "I meant, I was looking for you."

"Why?"

"Because," Nishinoya begins, turns so he's facing directly Watari and bows. Seijoh's libero gives a tiny squeak of surprise as Nishinoya says, "I wanna learn to do the back-row jump set you did for the match." He refrains from mentioning which match because he's certain Watari would know and no way is he losing any more of his pride since he's already bowing to a rival.

Watari looks lost for a moment. "Oh, you mean that set." He holds his hands over his head and repeats what he did before, though slower. "You literally just jump and set," he explains as though doing the action as easy as saying it aloud.

Nishinoya raises his head and frowns. Then his eyes hurt from looking at Watari from this angle so he straightens up. "Please, Watari," he begins, "I only have one brain cell." When Watari arches his eyebrows and opens his mouth, presumably to argue, Nishinoya adds, "I gotta have a hands-on for that."

A brief silence settles between the two boys. Watari's eyebrows are pinched together as he places his hands on his hips. His head is slightly cocked to the side. The more milliseconds pass, the more anxious Nishinoya gets. He's desperate to learn this move because it'd make a valuable addition to his skill set but if Watari declines then he loses his chance of learning from someone who executed it perfectly. Imagine the amount of quality tips he'd be missing out if Watari decides to play the snobby Seijoh stereotype Nishinoya made up.

"I could teach you," Watari says hesitantly, "but what's in it for me?"

Ah yes. You can't have something without paying a price for it.

Nishinoya opens his mouth, prepared to answer when he realizes he's got nothing the Seijoh libero could want. Watari has more volleyball experience than Nishinoya does—attending in a powerhouse school has its benefits. Nishinoya isn't smart too so helping him with homework is out of the question too. Also, Watari must be loaded so Nishinoya doubts he can 'buy' him with treats. At wit's end, Nishinoya blurts out the lamest thing he can think of.

"You can have me as a friend."

A crow passes, cawing loudly and breaking the awkward silence again.

"A friend," Watari repeats slowly.

Nishinoya resists the urge to squirm but, really, he feels like a worm on fire. "I know I'm not much but —"

"Yeah." Watari shrugs and Nishinoya stares at him as though he's sprouted a third arm. "I mean, you seem like a cool guy so why not?"

"Me?" Nishinoya is spluttering with disbelief. "Cool?"

"Would you prefer another word for it?" Watari grins and gives Nishinoya a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Anyway, I've gotta head over to practice. Give me your number so we can agree on when I can show you to do the jump set."

* * *

 

Nishinoya's the type of person who never sits still. He's always moving, in some kind of way. One time, he irked the heck out of his grandfather by jiggling his leg whenever he sat down, earning an earful. "The more you do that, the more money will fall out of your pocket when you grow up," admonished his grandfather.

Now, as Nishinoya sits in the Aoba Johsai gymnasium, he recalls that memory as he jiggles his leg. He's sitting at the bleachers to the side, with a volleyball between his feet, facing an empty court. Someone had already unlocked the gym so he assumed Watari was waiting inside only to find it devoid of the boy. Him and Watari agreed last night to meet here and in his excitement, he hadn't considered that he might be on grounds for trespassing. It's stupid that Nishinoya's waiting out here in the open but at least Watari would be able to spot him easily.

With an impatient sigh, he checks the time on his phone and curses inwardly at himself for showing up half an hour early. Speculating that Watari will show up on time, Nishinoya pokes around. He looks through the equipment store, scrutinizes the cleanliness of it and even checks the condition of the brooms and mops. When he steps out afterwards, he finds Watari. "There you are," he calls out casually, hoping Watari wouldn't mind him intruding.

Watari arches his eyebrows, seeing where Nishinoya emerged from, but ignores it anyway. He's dressed in a regular t-shirt and shorts instead of his uniform so it was a bit jarring to see him this way. Then again, Watari might feel the same way for Nishinoya as he's dressed similarly. "You think I'd ditch you after opening the gym for you?"

Nishinoya shrugs. He approaches Watari and places his hands on his hips. "Alright, show me how to do the back-row jump set."

Watari picks the volleyball near his feet and then flicks it upwards. The moment Nishinoya catches it, he asks, "How are you at setting?"

Nishinoya pauses. "There's _much_ to be desired."

"Ah." Watari's eyebrows furrow together. "It was easier for me to do that back-row jump set because I started off as a setter in my first-year." Then he notices Nishinoya's slightly disheartened expression before adding quickly. "But I'm sure you still have plenty of time to get started on your sets!"

Nishinoya doesn't answer; there's a pensive expression resting on his features as he stares at the volleyball in his hands. His attention is only tugged away when Watari gives a pat on his shoulder—he seems to have a thing for that, Nishinoya notices.

"If you've managed to drag the last match our schools had to the third set with your crazy receives, you can definitely do this, Nishinoya."

Encouraged, Nishinoya works on his setting skills under Watari's supervision. The Seijoh libero is a strict teacher, correcting any mistakes in ball-handling. It's a refreshing break from asking Sugawara, who tends to soften his criticisms, and Kageyama, who has about as much patience as a charging bull. Every other day, they meet up to practice though not at Watari's school gymnasium after their first meeting since they got caught by the janitor.

Nishinoya is seeing improvement in his skills, like timing, precision and positioning, but he has yet to learn how to do the back-row jump set. Time is running out too because with each passing day, the summer training camp grows closer. He tells Watari about it but the other boy simply shakes his head and says, "Let's work on your existing skills first." Though Nishinoya understands where he's coming at, it's a bit frustrating because of what's on his mind.

"Please, I really wanna start learning the jump-set now." The last day they have practice together before the summer training camp is a bad day for Nishinoya.

Watari catches the ball from Nishinoya then shakes his head. "You still have to improve your timing —"

"I don't have much time left!" Nishinoya's voice comes out louder than he expected. "The summer training camp is tomorrow and we're gonna have practice matches with the Tokyo powerhouse schools all week. I don't wanna let my teammates down." Watari's expression changes when Nishinoya becomes aware of his outburst. "Watari —"

"Jump and set." That's all Watari says for the rest of their practice session.

By the end of it after Watari leaves, the seed of guilt at taking Watari's easygoing nature for granted takes root in Nishinoya's chest. Later that night, he tries to send Watari a long apology but as he stares at the text, he can't help but feel that it makes him look insincere. So he deletes his work, which was worth about two hours of brainstorming and fretting, before sending Watari a text that reads "I'm sorry about what I said to you today." Then he turns off his phone and goes back to packing.

He doesn't turn his phone on the next day, giving himself the excuse that he's traveling to Tokyo and he needs to connect with all his friends. But in the evening after he's had his shower, he checks his messaging app only to find his text left on Read. It stings a little but he tells himself that at least Watari bothered to check his texts anyway.

The next time Nishinoya and Watari interact is when Karasuno and Seijoh stand on opposite ends of the court.

* * *

"Noya!" All those hours he spent practicing comes rushing back to him. Nishinoya turns around to see none other than Seijoh's libero approaching him. It's like deja vu, though this time there are fresh traces of dried tears on Watari's cheeks.

"Oh, hey." Nishinoya feels awkward now; he doesn't know what he's supposed to say since Karasuno won against Seijoh about twenty minutes ago. His hand tightens a little on the strap of his sports bag. "What's up?" His voice is too strained to sound casual.

Watari smiles at him. "That was beautiful," he says, with a mix of pride and wistfulness, but Nishinoya doesn't need to ask what he's referring to. "You executed it perfectly."

This time, it's Nishinoya who gives him the pat on the shoulder. There's a smile on his face. "I learned from the best," he adds.

To his surprise, Watari cracks up with laughter but it quickly grows thick with emotion. He wipes his face with the back of his hand, shaking his head. "Oh, don't flatter me."

"I'm ...—" Nishinoya's voice fails him. The guilt he managed to suppress bubbles back up to the back of his throat. "I'm sorry I didn't uphold my end of the deal."

Watari gives him a strange look. "Are you kidding me?" he scoffs. "You did keep your promise."

"I did?"

"Yes, you dummy." Watari's chuckling again. "I didn't take your word for it when you said you had a single brain cell back then—"

"Hey!"

"But you're a good friend, Nishinoya. I hope we can stay that way even after this match."

"Of course we can!"

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are always appreciated so feel free to leave some! i'll do my best to reply to everyone :)  
> thank you so much for reading and i hope you'll have a lovely day!
> 
> [[ twitter ]](https://twitter.com/azunshi)   
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